You know those days, the ones where you can’t face playing Batman / play doh / Peppa any more? You really just can’t do it? Well yesterday was one of those days and I was in desperate need of some new activities for toddlers. I rummaged through my craft supplies, trying to think of something that wouldn’t end with us covered in paint and…nothing. So something new was called for. Thankfully while I was making an emergency cup of tea I fell upon one of the ingredients for goop, a quick expedition into garden and we have wild flower goop, the pretty version of messy play. And I worked out how to not get messy either, yes really, read on my friend….
What You'll Find on This Page
Wildflower Goop
Cornflower
Water
Flowers
Tray – I used a baking tray as this has raised edges so the goop was less likely to go everywhere
Spoon
To make the goop you mix the cornflower with the water, there’s no exact science to this but it’s more cornflower than water, so pop the cornflower into your tray and then add the water bit by bit until you are happy with it, stirring with a spoon as you go to mix them together. Add your flowers, mine are literally the wild ones I found in my garden (you could call them weeds, I’m saying wildflowers) and the ones that had poked through my fence from my neighbours.
Goop has a strange consistency, it’s liquidy and will drip from your spoon, but the cornflower makes it feel chalky too, both me and my daughter found that we’d need to put in a bit of elbow grease with the spoon to get it off the bottom of the tray.
Ah yes, the spoon, well that’s my top tip today. Like a lot of young kids my daughter doesn’t really like to tough things with a messy consistency, she loves playing with rice, water and pasta but messy play with shaving foam or baked beans? No way. I wasn’t sure if she’d actually touch this goop so I gave her a spoon to play with it with and she loved it! Moving the goop around the tray, picking out flowers, watching it drip from the spoon, it kept her occupied for ages. And she didn’t get in a huge mess either, total result.
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What a fab activity and a perfect way to use all that treasure that is collected with kids!
There’s something about cornflour that we all love in this house. It’s such fun to play with!
Very interesting activity 🙂 Not sure if i will feel ok enough to use flowers though…
Great.
Do you have suggestion of activities I can do for 20 3 year “old” toddler guests in a garden party? Thanks anyways!!!